Giraffe Tongue Orchestra
Broken Lines
Release Date: Sep 23, 2016
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Metal, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock
Record label: Cooking Vinyl
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Album Review: Broken Lines by Giraffe Tongue Orchestra
Very Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
As oxymorons go, ‘supergroup’ must be right up there; for every Them Crooked Vultures, a Bad English. So where does that leave Giraffe Tongue Orchestra? Comprised of members of Alice In Chains, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon and the Mars Volta, this is a clever hybrid of prog, hard rock and dance; there’s even a full-blown power ballad (that’s part The Tubes, part Kate Bush atmospherics) in the shape of All We Have Is Now. ADVERTISINGinRead invented by Teads .
Based on rating 7/10
All the riffs. As overused as the term is, there’s no denying that Giraffe Tongue Orchestra are a supergroup, counting members of Alice In Chains, Mastodon, The Mars Volta and The Dillinger Escape Plan among their ranks, as well as Pete Griffin, who’s been in animated band, Dethklok. Suffice to say, these 10 songs are just as intense and overbearing as you’d expect, from the monolithic swagger of ‘Fragments & Ashes’ through to the pummelling riffs and swirling sound of ‘Thieves And Whores’.
Based on rating 7/10
The term "supergroup" is an odd one when it comes to collaborative projects. In the alternative scene, it’s a term that can be interpreted as not just the creative effort of players from established bands occupying similar genres, but over time, it's come to mean that such an effort must obviously be a combination of each of those members’ individual styles. Giraffe Tongue Orchestra has been in the works for a while now and ultimately results in something more than such a throwaway term.
Based on rating 7/10
What, you may wonder, is a Giraffe Tongue Orchestra? A far cry from the pizzicato leaf-munching the moniker conjures, GTO are a progressive rock Voltron of awesomeness assembled of experimental metal deity Ben Weinman (Dillinger Escape Plan), William DuVall (Alice in Chains), Brent Hinds (Mastodon), Thomas Pridgen (the Mars Volta) and Pete Griffin (Dethklok). Weinman's creatively restless riffs and darkly anthemic chord progressions are focused on guiding epic journeys through a tautly plotted maze of bombastic, soaring rock movements, avenues of venomous punk, gutters of primal, searing metal and back alleys of sneering alt rock refrains, with unexpected excursions into dirty funk breakdowns. The stadium-minded ensemble strikes a great balance between fearless exploration and casual virtuosity with unabashedly catchy classic rock-isms pulled and bent from across the genre's history.
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